Opinions on how to use sprites in your game.

[Raharabin]

Hi there,

so I'm still new to making games and using renpy, and I'm currently working on my first project. It's going really well so far, I've just got to the point when all of the games character sprites are finished and I can code them into the game. The assets are really nice, but I have a question about the coding for sprites.

My question is this; how do you use your sprites in game?
I first started out by just placing them on the screen, one to the left and another on the right to show a conversation, and occasionally changing the sprites to show changes in expression. It was alright, but they were just... bland like that. I get the feeling that I could do so much more with them.
So how do you use your sprites in game? Do you change the placements of the characters or the zoom or anything different? I'd love to know the different ways we can change things to make it interesting.

Thank you! Hope you are having a great day!

[Zelan]

If your characters are moving around, you can move the sprites around on screen. Move left, move right, move down a bit if the character sits down, zip off screen if they quickly run away. You can also have characters shake rapidly to show surprise or move slowly from side to side to show fidgeting nervousness.

If your sprites are really just sitting and having a conversation, it's okay for them not to be moving around a bunch or anything. The dialogue should be interesting enough to hold the reader's attention. If it still looks too boring to you, consider their expressions. Maybe there are only slight changes in their expressions so that you can barely see them changing. In that case, you might want to exaggerate their expressions, or add more expressions and/or poses.

Some people also will have the sprites who aren't speaking in shadow or in grayscale, while the one who is speaking is in full color. Personally, I don't like this approach because I think the reactions of the characters who aren't speaking are just as important, but it's a possiblity.

If you feel like there is too much happening that you can't illustrate with just sprites, consider adding CGs. If you would only use a sprite once or twice, it may not be worth it to design the sprite at all - the whole point of sprites is that they can be reused many times. On the other hand, CGs are also a lot of time and are meant to be used only once or twice. It'll be tough to balance between the two but experiment a bit with what works for you and you'll figure it out. (:

[Raharabin]

Thank you for replying! This is exactly the kind of thing I was wondering about. I'll start playing about with the different things you've suggested and find out how it all works. Thank you!!!!

[Autumnotopia]

Christine Love did a talk at Visual;Conference 2017 with a piece of advice that really stuck with me. Basically she suggested that the sprite should change with every single line of dialogue, sometimes more. Not necessarily big changes, but even subtle little adjustments can make the game seem a lot more lively. She said her sprites tend to have about 100 variations, many of which are just a subtle quirking of the eyebrow or something like that.

100's probably a little excessive for me, but I think that trying to change the sprite as often as you reasonably can and having more subtle variations is a solid goal.

[parttimestorier]

Christine Love did a talk at Visual;Conference 2017 with a piece of advice that really stuck with me. Basically she suggested that the sprite should change with every single line of dialogue, sometimes more. Not necessarily big changes, but even subtle little adjustments can make the game seem a lot more lively. She said her sprites tend to have about 100 variations, many of which are just a subtle quirking of the eyebrow or something like that.

100's probably a little excessive for me, but I think that trying to change the sprite as often as you reasonably can and having more subtle variations is a solid goal.

I've actually been giving this advice a try in a project I'm working on right now! I definitely don't think it's a necessity, especially if you're just starting out and don't have the budget for a ton of art - I'm perfectly happy to see sprites that just stay in one place and change expressions occasionally as long as there's good writing. But I've recently been working with some sprites like this one that have a lot of variations for the eyebrows, eyes, and mouth, and I'm finding that it works really well to change at least one thing with each new line of dialogue they have, even if it's something small. It makes them feel a lot more alive, and it's not too difficult if you set it up with layered images.